The Katana
by Risa3
Summary: Heero wonders about the past and what will happen in the future.


The characters are not mine. Enjoy.  
The Katana  
  
Changing schools as often as they did the boys didn't have time for much of what Quatre called 'cultural refinement.' So when the school announced a field trip to the museum all five boys had to go. Quatre insisted that they needed it to remember why they fought, Duo felt it would be a good reason to get out of class, Wu Fei for all that he was now a warrior had once been a scholar and Trowa would go because Quatre asked him to. Since Heero didn't make any vocal objections he was signed up to go as well.  
  
After the initial tour the students were given leave to wander around the museum and look at the many different exhibits. Duo started to gossip and flirt with the girls of the class, Trowa and Quatre went to look at the area about music and Wu Fei mumbled something and wandered off to do whatever. Heero looked at all of his fellow pilots and decided to wander on his own since if he left he would never hear the end of it from the braided one. Aimlessly wandering through the rooms and going over the last mission Heero suddenly looked around the room that he was in. The noise from the rest of the students had diminished and he was in a part of the museum that hadn't been included in the tour.  
  
"Are you lost young man?"  
  
Heero whipped around and just barely caught himself from pulling his gun on the elderly lady who had managed to startle him.  
  
"No, just looking."  
  
She stopped and looked at Heero closely then smiled. "You're Japanese. Well that would explain your interest in this area of the museum. Most young people are only interested in the stuff from Europe since that's were OZ and Romefeller get most of their philosophies. The areas on the Napoleonic Wars and pre-Civil War displays are the most heavily visited. They view them as the last time that man fought honorably in war before repeating or automatic weapons came into use. The displays over here about Japan and the rest of Asia are more or less ignored. You're in the section about the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The last Shogun before the Meji Era. Well, I've visited long enough but you might enjoy the history. Have a good day young man."  
  
The prevalent thought in Heero's mind was that the lady seemed to talk almost as much as Duo did. Yet what she said had been interesting. Walking around the room and studying the displays something suddenly caught and held his attention. Mounted on the wall in a glass case was a katana. Heero had seen swords before but this one seemed to grab his mind and not let go. He walked over to take a closer look and read the information. As he finished Heero couldn't help but look at the sword with a type of kinship.  
  
The beautiful blade on the wall had started out as a hunk of metal and was slowly over time shaped and had all the imperfections burned out of it. The metal would be melted, shaped, folded, cooled, and then heated again and the entire process repeated until it reached that perfect state of being. Looking at his life Heero felt that he had started much the same way. First by Odin Lowe then by Dr. J. They took a child prepared his mind shaped it, molded it, cooled it then began again adding more ideas and skills as they were need, folded the ideas into his mind and buried them into his soul. And like the blade all the impurities had been burned away leaving nothing but a perfect weapon behind. Unlike the European blades he had seen earlier the beauty of the katana lay in the stark perfection of its duty. The glimmering blade meant for slaughter. It did not claim to be anything more than what it was. It was designed to be a quick and effective weapon that did not require the time wasting process of cleaning the other types of swords did. The curved design made it so that after killing a flick of the wrist would clean almost everything from the blade to be re-sheathed quickly for its next taste of blood. Heero was the blade and Dr. J and the colonies his wielder. And like the katana Heero could not let what he had done stay on him to slow down the next mission.  
  
All of these images flew through his mind as Heero read the display on the sword. At the very end it was commented on how after men had used the katana's to start a new government the government had then outlawed katana's to all but the police and secret police. Would that happen to him. Would he and the other Gundam Pilots be seen as to dangerous and be destroyed by those they served. Footsteps sounded and Heero spun around to see Duo walk into the room.  
  
"It's time to go man?" Duo looked at him oddly. "Heero, are you OK? You seem different somehow."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Yeah whatever let's go."  
  
Following Duo out of the room Heero turned to look at the katana once again. The question still burning in his mind,' What will they do to us after the war if we survive it?' For the first time Heero didn't feel like he would undoubtedly die because like the katana he had been forged to last.  
Comments appreciated. 


End file.
